Jeff Senn Guitars Original Senn

Jeff Senn Pomona (Tele Style)
Light Ash Body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, black guard. I wanted something a little warmer than the traditional maple fretboard. The finish is a nice butterscotch blond. There is a picture of it on Jeff's Website.
Jeff had the coolest decal to put on it. I really like the feel of Tom Anderson's 62 roundback neck so I had Jeff build it to those specs, large frets and a slightly flatter radius for better bendability. Coming in just under 7 lbs its light and very resonant. Neck pickup is a Lollar Vintage, bridge is a custom Fred Stuart. Comes with case and Levi's leather strap.
I'm giving this a 10 because it has everything I ever expected out of this type of guitar It has far exceeded my expectations.

I play a wide range of different musical styles. Rock, Blues, Funk, some Country and Jazz. I have three different amp setups for different applications. A 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb (all original), A Kendric 4x12 Bassman, and a Guytron FV w/2x12 Guytron cab. I run a timmy pedal for my gain and a Clay Jones OD for that extra crunch when called for. Other effects are Analogman clone chorus, Maxon Ad999 delay, budah wah, xotic RC booster.. etc..
The sound of this guitar surprises me every time I pick it up. It sounds Huge! Excellent clean, crisp without being too brite, no ice pick to the ear tones. I used the words "big sounding" when I spoke with Jeff to order it and he really hit the nail on the head. The neck pickup sounds rich and full, very strat-like when I want it to be. The bridge is a total killer, it just rocks, roll back the volume just a touch and it twangs. Extremely versitile. I can change the tone dramitically by simply changing the location I am picking, the guitar just rings out. Tried it next to a $3500 master built Tele by F* and my Senn was superior on all levels, a big difference actually.

This is my first Jeff Senn and my first "relic" I was a little nervous about it. When I opened the case I knew I had made a great decision with the finish. Picked it up and tuned it, plugged it in and I swear my jaw hit the ground. After playing it for about 5 minutes I thought Jeff had put .009 gauge strings on it, it felt so easy to bend and the action was set low. Turns out they are .010's. It just feels so easy to play. The neck pocket is super tight, I honestly can not find one flaw in the setup of this guitar. Built by a serious pro. Its a two piece ash body but you'd be hard pressed to find a seam. Everything worked perfectly out of the case and its only gotten better since.

I cant imagine anything ever going wrong with this guitar and if it ever did, Jeff gives a total guarantee on his product. Being relic and having a very thin Nitro finish, I know it will wear and that's exactly what I want. I would totally use it without backup. The thing is solid as a rock!

Jeff is a real stand up guy. He's been great to deal with and really knows his stuff. I dont expect he'll ever see this guitar again unless he comes to visit my home town. ;-) Lifetime warranty.

I have been playing guitar for over 25 years. I have had the fortunate experience to have owned some amazing guitars. (Tom Anderson, John Suhr) plus Fender, Gibson, Hamer and others. They are all great in their own right. The Original Senn is the best guitar I have ever owned for me. Not taking anything away from the other great builders, this guitar just has "it". I wouldnt change anything about it and if it were stolen I would order another just like it from Jeff.
If you are considering an S or T type guitar, Check out Jeff Senn's site. I am saving up for his Fullerton model next(str@t). What a great experience it has been buying this guitar.

"Fullerton" model, Strat type guitar. Yellowed olympic white finish on alder body, maple neck/rosewood cap, with nice 6100 size fretwire. All finishes are nitro, nice and thin...so the wood can breathe...the way it's supposed to be! The neck is the most comfortable, full, broken in neck I have ever played....to die for. I could write a novel on the neck alone...so I will stop here. Lollar Blackface pickups in neck and middle, Lollar Special in bridge slot. Control wired Master Vol, Neck Tone, and Bridge Tone. Kluson style vintage tuning keys, Callaham Tremolo bridge assembly, and real bone nut. Has all the "features" you could want on a Strat style guitar.

This guitar is the best sounding Strat style guitar I have ever played. It really sounds like a vintage piece, but has it's own...for lack of a better word..."mojo" going on. It is VERY well balanced from string to string, and from pickup to pickup. Jeff suggested the Lollar Special in the bridge position, and his suggestion was dead on (as usual). This guitar can be as sweet or agressive as I need it...very touch sensitive. The guitar is very loud, when unplugged, and resonates like crazy. I'm sure part of that is due to the very, very tight neck joint....and Jeff's selection of wood. Plugged in it has a very smooth, smokey sound, but still very much has that Strat chime...exactly what I was looking for.

The finish is dead on perfect. I asked for a yellowed olympic white...sent Jeff a few pics of what exactly I meant...and he nailed it. Nice gentle relicing on the whole guitar. It has lacquer checking, and dings here and there...just to give it a nice broken it look, to match the broken in feel. Jeff's aging work, is far above anything else I have seen out there. I feel weird playing a new shiny guitar. Hardware all deglossed, thin finish on the neck...just the way I wanted it. The neck joint, as I mentioned earlier, is TIGHT!!! The setup is pefect...no complaints here!

I imagine this guitar will probably last longer than I will. I'm still working out the details on how to be buried with this thing. I always gig with a backup guitar, but I have no worries about this one. Very, very solid feeling guitar.

The good thing about building a guitar with Jeff...is that he does it all. He takes your order, shoots ya photos along the way, and won't send you anything unless it is perfect. It is definately a one on one relationship, that means so much when you are trying to get that "perfect guitar." I feel confident that if I ever have any problems with it, I could call up Jeff and he would make it right ASAP.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with this guitar. I have never instantly bonded with a guitar, quite like I have with this one. As a matter of fact I am currently getting another one from Jeff....maple neck this time!!! No one can get just one. I had kinda grown away from the Strat a bit, just because I hadn't found one that sounded like I want I wanted to hear. Thanks to Jeff, I have fell in love with the Strat all over again.

Fullerton model (strat type), late 50's sunburst finish on lightweight ash body, with maple neck/rosewood board. Beautiful thin nitro finish. Very dark Indian rosewood board. Lollar "blonde" pickups w/ blender knob instead of 2nd tone control. Vintage style tuners and bridge. Medium frets (narrow, like vintage, but a little taller, for easier bends), and a medium-sized neck. Fairly broken-in feeling, right out of the case, undoubtedly helped somewhat by rolled edges on fretboard. Very much of a "vintage vibe," right down to the screws.

Wanted a classic Knopfler, Clapton/Derek and the Dominoes strat tone, not a Texas/fat tone, and that's what I got. The Lollar pickups are incredibly responsive and dynamic, not harsh or brittle sounding at all. Played straight through a Clark Beaufort (5E3 circuit late 50's style Deluxe) the sound is early Fender to the bone. The combination of premium wood, electronics, and professional setup makes for a very "alive" sounding guitar. Takes to pedals well, too, but I prefer going straight into the Clark. The blender pot opens up a whole other range of unique tones; still very Fender-like, but different than "stock." In my opinion, a very useful feature. Guitar sounds loud acoustically, too. I love everything about the sound, and I got exactly what I wanted.

As mentioned above, great setup. The neck was a little bigger than what I wanted, so I called Jeff, who assured me it was no problem to reshape. Sent the neck to him, and within a couple weeks, had it back on the guitar, just as I hoped it would be. Nice and tight neck-joint fit. The nut, fretwork, saddle height, intonation, etc. was good-to-go right out of the box. I am not a professional guitarist, but Jeff does setups for many well known musicians, so he is very accomodating to how YOU want your guitar to sound and play. Stays in tune with no problems (always one of my biggest concerns). Fit and finish is excellent. Nothing cheap or loose-feeling, and no weird buzzes or crackle-sounds to be had. Really nice wood used on this guitar. Very resonant.

Have only had the guitar for a month, but play it every day. It's my new #1. Again, everything about this axe feels solid, and I don't anticipate any problems. I specifically wanted a thin nitrocellulose finish on the body and neck, so I imagine it will wear away gracefully over time, just like the original Fenders. Would play gigs without a backup - can't forsee anything major to go wrong with it.

Jeff is a super nice guy, and easy to work with. Being that I live in Florida, and Jeff is in Nashville, I was quite detailed with my descriptions of what I wanted on the guitar, and what I wanted it to look, sound and feel like, specifically because I couldn't be with him in person to go over everything. It turned out to be as enjoyable an ordering process as I've ever had.

I've been playing guitar for 20+ years, and lean toward vintage looking/playing models. Have several other guitars, all of which I love and sound great, and the Original Senn is easily up there with any of them. Besides the Clark amp, I own a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr., along with a handful of boutique pedals (mostly overdrive) and boutique cables (very underrated, IMHO). Wouldn't change anything on the guitar if I had to, and would replace in a heartbeat. It oozes vintage vibeyness and solidity. Considering that you get to choose everything you want on it (finish, electronics, neck shape and radius, woods, etc...), I think it's a superb value.

This is a Strat style guitar built to resemble a late 50's Fender in looks, playability, and sound. It has an EXTREMELY lightweight swamp ash body and large maple neck with maple fretboard. It has a moderate reliced finish that is fantastic! It really looks like it's been played for years. Fralin pickups (Real 54's in mid and neck, and a Blues Special in the bridge). Gold vintage styled hardware with a hardtail bridge. Volume, Tone for mid, Tone for neck, and a 5-way selector controls. I specifically asked for no tone control on the bridge pickup for more output and it works! It's almost like having a boost connected to that position. Bone nut and medium/jumbo nickel frets. Comes standard with a vintage style leather strap (in black or brown) and a hardcase, but I requested a gig bag for convenience and got a nice one. This is a VERY well put together guitar. It has every option I could want on a strat-styled guitar.

This guitar sounds phenomenal. I bought it looking for a combination of SRV tones along with early Ventures/Hank Marvin sounds and hit the jackpot! This guitar delivers in spades and then some. With the pickups I chose, I can cover everything from Blues to Surf to Country to Rockabilly and even some Classic Rock sounds. Due to it's light weight (6.3 lbs!!!), non trem bridge and thin Nitrocellulose finish, you get a resonance throughout the entire body that is almost unheard of in the guitars being produced by larger companies. Acoustically, it is bright and jangly. Plugged into a Peavey Classic 30 (with Celestion V30 speaker), this piece really comes alive. The bridge pickup is loud and bold without any icepick-sharp highs usually associated with single coils. The middle pickup has slightly less output but is nice and round with balanced response. The neck pickup just sings! It has a wonderful rich, full tone that is hard to put into words. The tone controls are usable from 1 to 10 and don't get muddy at the low end. It seems like they affect the decay of the note more than the attack. Very Impressive.

This category is what I think makes Jeff's guitars stand head and shoulders above the rest of the crap out there purporting to be "accurate vintage reproductions". Jeff has owned and played real vintage pieces and knows what they should sound like and how they should feel. I met Jeff at a guitar show in Nashville earlier this year at his booth. He had a number of pieces diplayed, some reliced and a few pristine. Like a lot of people who came by, Jeff actually had to encourage me to pick up and play one because I thought these were real vintage Fenders with real vintage prices. I have been shooed away from more than a few booths in my life for simply getting too close to a 52 Tele or a 59 Les Paul. Luckily for me, I did play quite a few models from his inventory and every last one was rock solid. It was amazing. They all had different variations of neck shapes and size, as well as fretboard and body wood choices and yet there wasn't a clunker in the bunch. That says it all for me as far as quality of build is concerned. When I ordered my guitar from Jeff, he took as much information as possible from me in order to get it built exactly to my specs. I brought over my favorite guitar (at the time) so that he could measure the neck (shape, radius, nut spacing, and fret size) to get an exact replica for my new one. He even called me over to his shop when the neck was completed to double check it. I chose Shoreline Gold for the color and Jeff had me come over twice during the painting process to approve of it before completeing the project. You don't get this type of service from just anyone. This is by far the best playing guitar I have laid my hands on and I have owned many different makes and models over the years. Everything from a Peavey T-60, through various Ibanez metal styles, multiple PRS and Tom Andersons as well as a few custom built pieces from Ed Roman and Terry Mcinturff. This guitar stands with best of them. The attention to detail by Jeff is amazing! He truly is an artist.

I have only had this guitar for about 3 months now and haven't had a chance to gig with it. But I play at home on a daily basis and have seen no signs of trouble. Even though it is in the break-in process, it plays like I've had it for years. I've had the neck adjusted once to cure some light buzzing and may have Jeff crown the frets at a later date once I've worn it in a bit more. I do lots of heavy bending in the styles of music that I play and have induced some moderate relief in necks in the past from my playing alone. I haven't noticed this phenomenon yet with this guitar. The finish on this guitar is very thin, but that is done on purpose for tonality and relicing. I was told that it will wear with extensive playing but that's what I wanted, plus it really looks cool. I would gig with this guitar without a backup in a heartbeat due to its rock solid contruction and the attention to detail diplayed in its fit and finish. I only give it an 8 in this category due to the fact that I haven't had it long enough to give a realistic description of its durability.

Jeff is by far one of the nicest people I've ever met and he has done everything he could to make this purchase a dream come true for me. I have always lusted after an early to mid 50's Fender but never had the trust fund available to purchase one. Having Jeff custom build my very own replica has been a memorable experience and I would recommend his work to everyone. He stands by his word and he really cares about the product. As I've stated before in this review, his attention to detail is fantastic and really makes his guitars stand out. Check out his website at jeffsennguitars.com to see for yourself. My guitar is in the photo gallery.

I have been playing (amateurishly) for the past 18 years and have owned everything from pawn shop prizes to custom made high falutin' pieces and this guitar really shines above them all. Not to say that the other ones didn't have their good points, but there always seemed to be one little flaw or tonal variance that kept them from being perfect. I have yet to find any flaws with this guitar and am truly satisfied with the entire proces from start to finish with Jeff. I may not be the best player, but I do know what sounds good and what doesn't. This guitar sounds great. If you are looking for a vintage piece but don't want to pay the ridiculous prices, then you owe it to yourself to check out Jeff's guitars. Not only are they better (in my opinion) than the Fender Relics, but Jeff can build one to your personal specifications to the letter. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I'd cry like I'd wet my pants on national telelvision. After that, I'd call Jeff immediately and get him started on Goldy II. As a matter of fact, I've already started planning out my next project for him, a Telecaster with a slightly different pickup scheme. Once I finalize my specs on this piece, you'll be seeing a review on it.

This guitar is a Tele style guitar with a rosewood board. Huge neck, featherwieght ash body. Great relic job. (Way more realistic than Fender.) Thin finish. (daphne blue) Fralin pu's. Old style Tele bridge with brass saddles that are angled for intonation. If you're into vintage vibe and tones these guitars are worth checking out. They have the right feel and are very well made.

This guitar sounds really great. I've had it for a few months now and have used it on sessions, on the road and around the house with friends. Everyone that plays the guitar comments on the hugeness of the bridge pickup. ( not size dummy, the tone!) Anyway, the guitar is very acoustic sounding before you even plug it in. Very loud and resonant. Then when you run it through an amp that quality really shines through plugged in. Like I said, the bridge pickup is huge sounding. It's so articulate, very sensitive to your attack. Then when you switch to the neck pickup it's very clear and punchy. Both pickups are bright but in a pleasing way. Not shrill, but jangly. The tones in this guitar are very Mike Campbellish. However, you can get a Steve Cropper kind of grease out of it. (That was my inspiration for having him build this particular guitar.) It nails all of these kinds of tones. It's got the twang and spank and the attitude that a great old tele has. I have a real '55 and this thing sounds really great next to it. The only thing it doesn't have is the mellowing that you get with old pickups but it's not that drastic of a difference. Besides, if you don't have old pickups there's nothing you can do about that.

Well, the fact that this was a custom made guitar, custom made for me by the guy that's been doing my repairs for the past few years is reason enough for me to say that in this category I have to give it a 10. Jeff went to great lenghts to nail the Daphne blue color. It's got the right amount of "greening" that you see on that finish from the 60's. It has very realistic relicing done to it. A lot of people get tele relicing wrong, not Jeff. (Hint, arm wear on a tele does not look like arm wear on a strat! come on!) He knows my setup preferences so that ofcourse was perfect. He's an extremely detail oriented guy so I can't imagine him not getting it right. One cool thing about this guitar, to me, is that the pu switch has an audible click when you smack it back to the bridge position! Ever hear that on an old recording? Very cool! I'm sure that depends also on the pups you put in. I could go on forever about the set up of the guitar but you know, Jeff has teched for a lot of picky people here in Nashville, (Vince Gill being one.) he knows what the hell he's doing! His guitars always play GREAT!

Like I said, I've used this guitar in the studio and live. It's been on planes in a gigbag, it's been in the bays of busses. It's holding up great. The only thing that I noticed at first was that I could knock this guitar out of tune if I wasn't careful. After a few months of use that problem seems to be solved. Maybe it just needed some breaking in, idunno. Now it seems to be in tune everytime I pick it up and it holds the tuning very well. I do lots of bending and it's holding tune very well now. I'd give it a 10 here but just to be over critical I'll give it a 9.

Jeff is very easy to work with and he really goes to great lengths to make a customer happy. He's very straightforward and sticks to his word on everything. He'll take care of you. He's good people. Check out his website jeffsennguitars.com my guitar is the blue tele in the photo section.

I've been playing professionally for close to 20 yrs. I grew up around vintage guitars and know what they're supposed to be like. Jeff is doing a great job at picking up where Fender leaves off. Fender custom shop instruments are really good but let's face it, if you want to get more specific (Weight, color, neck profile, fret size, pickups, etc.) a company that big just can't accomodate you. It makes perfect business sense but some of us want to get that specific with our guitars. I acquired my vintage instruments through family members, but not everybody's that lucky. If you're a vintage enthusiast you probably can't afford those instruments. Well, these guitars are for that player and the detail in which mine was built is second to none.